Rabia Çetin
A Turkish prosecutor has called for prison sentences for three journalists and one lawyer over reports and social media posts alleging that a prosecutor investigating the notorious Yenidoğan gang was removed from the case.
The fourth hearing of the trial was held at the Bakırköy 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, where halktv.com.tr editor-in-chief Dinçer Gökçe, gazetepencere.com editor-in-chief Nilay Can, journalist Veysi Dündar, and lawyer İrem Çiçek are being tried on charges of “publicly spreading misleading information,” under Article 217/A of the Turkish Penal Code.
The charges stem from a news story titled “Prosecutor who cracked down on Yenidoğan gang removed from case” and related posts shared on social media. These reports claimed that the prosecutor who had led a major investigation into the Yenidoğan gang, a criminal organization operating in Turkey, had been pulled from the case under pressure.
At the hearing, only the lawyers of Dinçer Gökçe and Nilay Can were present. The other defendants and their legal counsel submitted excuses for not attending.
Following identification procedures, the prosecutor submitted the final opinion (mütalaa), requesting that all four defendants — Gökçe, Can, Dündar and Çiçek — be sentenced separately under the law for spreading misleading information.
In addition, the prosecutor sought an additional conviction for lawyer İrem Çiçek for “insulting members of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK),” based on a social media post she made following remarks by Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç. In the post, Çiçek had written:
“When a prosecutor is threatened, and without his own request he is labeled ‘biased’ in the case files, and if the HSK and the minister — its president — block him from pursuing new investigations related to the case, is this called recusal or forced removal?”
The court granted a request for additional time to prepare defense statements in response to the prosecutor’s opinion. The next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 8, 2026, at 10 a.m.
